Tiefenthaler, Joseph

TIEFFENTALLER, JOSEPH. - Jesuit missionary and geographer, b. at Salorno (Bolzano) on 24 Apr. 1710, d. at Laknau (India) on 5 July 1785.

Having entered the Order in 1729, he left for India in 1740; in 1743 he was in the Kingdom of the Great Mogul; and from 1747 to 1764 at Narvar. After the suppression of the Society of Jesus, he did not leave India, but continued as an itinerant missionary. In his travels he had occasion to gather much information and many observations on astronomy, history, natural sciences, usages, customs, and religions, which were the subject of numerous communications to European scholars. He is chiefly responsible for the scien-

tific exploration of the Middle Ganges and its tributaries, especially the Gogra; for which reason T. is called the “Father of modern Indian geography.” Anqueti du Perron, with 3 large and 32 small geographical maps, received in 1776 from T., together with the necessary explanations, published: Carte générale du cours du Gange et du Gogra dressée par les cartes particulières du p. T. (Paris 1784). The German astronomer J. Bernoulli, in turn, having obtained from the physician Dr. Kratzenstein many letters and another 30 valuable manuscripts by the missionary, published, together with all the geographical maps: Des p. J. Tieffenthalers der Gesellschaft Jesu und apostolische Missionarius in Indien historisch-geographische Beschreibung von Hindoustan (3 vols., Berlin and Gotha 1785–88; French trans., ibid. 1786–89).